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Monday, 2 April 2018

Hawes, Hardraw and Easter

Due to poor, OK none existent internet connection last week I'm way behind in telling you about the rest of our trip to Yorkshire. At the beginning of the week I managed to have internet access via my phone but as the week went on the weather deteriorated and with it my network. Admittedly we were staying in a cottage perched on the edge of the hillside at the head of the valley of Wensleydale. This dale is probably best known as the area where the cheese beloved by Wallace and Grommit comes from. We were going to visit the creamery and see how the cheese is made but we decided against the idea as one of us would have had to find something else to do as no dogs were allowed and we don't leave him in the car on his own.On Tuesday we drove to Hawes and enjoyed seeing the lambs in the fields. Hawes is a pretty little market town and is the highest in England, at 850 feet above sea water. Hawes is an old market place being recorded in 1307. A market still takes place on a Tuesday so the town was quite busy. We took our time walking round the town, enjoying the old buildings and cobbled streets. The roads are narrow through the main area so a one way system keeps the traffic flowing. The town also has it's own waterfall. If you love waterfalls Yorkshire is definitely the area to come to.

I love the noise of waterfalls and get mesmerised watching the water. The Wensledale creamery is in Hawes but we made our way to the rope-maker. We had visited here years ago when holidaying with my parents when the children were small. Since then the business had grown and their premises as well. You can read about their history here They make a wide range of products including dog leads so Scamp left the building proudly sporting his new red rope lead.During the week you are able to go into the workshop and watch the rope being made. The workshop is very long which allows for a long length of rope to be twisted. We watched as a black and white thick rope was made. I thought there would be another rope created and I could have taken a photo but it was the last part of an order and the rope maker went off to complete the job.

They make bannister ropes and when we finish our renovations on our house we plan to have a rope bannister on the wall side of the stairs. I just love all the colours

This machine was spinning a cord, you can just about see the threads from the smaller cones on the floor going up to hooks in the ceiling and down to be twisted by the machine.

They had several off cuts of the braids and cords that you could take so I picked up several for use when trying to teach the guides how to tie various knots. They also had a machine that knitted the cords but I forgot to take a picture. It created very colourful cords and we almost bought a dog lead made from it but we wanted a traditional rope lead.Here is a picture of the outside of the rope makers workshop. There is another building off to the right which houses further work area, the office and the shop.

By this time we were all feeling hungry so decided to find somewhere for lunch. What we found was Laburnum House, that catered for bed and breakfast but was also a tea room and dog friendly. I have taken this photo from their website.

The lunch was very enjoyable, tasty and reasonably priced. Scamp was given a dog treat and provided with water so he thought it was great. It was small inside, besides what you see here there was only one other table. These two couples also had a dog with them.

After lunch we decided to walk to Hardraw Force which was only about one and a half miles. We followed the marked footpaths but the ground was very soft from the rain and we'd only gone half way when it started to seriously rain so we decided to make our way back to the car and drive there.The last time I visited Hardraw it was a very dry summer and there was hardly any water but this time it was flowing well but not as impressive as sometimes. The water has carved out the bowl around the waterfall over years. This is one of England's largest single drop waterfalls being over 100 feet

I spent some time watching the water, keeping my eye on one area and following it down as it fell. This was a game I loved to play as a child.

After the water fall we headed for home as the weather was turning colder. Once there we lit the fire for a really cosy evening. I'll tell you some more of our trip tomorrow. Yesterday was Easter day and I hope you all had a good day. Our church always has a dawn service on Easter day and when at home John and I like to go. After the service we all share a cooked breakfast in the church hall and John is roped in to cook the eggs. It's a chance to spend some time with friends over a mealLater in the day Kathryn and Olly came over for dinner and we enjoyed some family time. The meal was delicious and the talk flowed freely. Sitting chatting after dinner I managed to complete some stitching on Abigail.

Not much but a little bit of Slow Sunday Stitching. I'm linking this post with Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching link up.My plans for today are to get my sewing machine out but before that I have a couple of chores to do. I thought I would also try and set a sewing goal for April. I think I may be getting back into the rhythm of sewing.Lyndsey